Different systems exist for automatically cutting the carcasses of slaughtered animals.
One example is WO 2014025250 describes a device and method for automatically processing a carcass of a slaughtered animal suspended from the hind legs. The device includes a rotatable cutting blade for opening an abdominal wall and which is partially shielded. A cleaving blade to split the pubic bone of the carcass is attached to the shield that partially covers the rotatable cutting blade. However, these tools must be cleaned on a regular basis and such cleaning operations can lead to operational downtimes for the device, when the cleaving blade is fixed on the rotatable cutting blade. The device also requires four individual tools which inevitably require more maintenance, higher operational costs and increased possibilities of downtimes. The presence of four individual tools also implies additional weight, thereby requiring the use of a more powerful, and therefore a slower device.
Hence, in light of the aforementioned, there is a need for a system and a method for cutting a carcass which, by virtue of its design and components, would be able to overcome or at least minimize some of the aforementioned prior art problems.